After the meeting, some thoughts on getting through

People change. Things change. Twenty years from now, when my kids go off to school, I’m gonna think back to Fayette Middle.

When my kids come home and need help with their homework, I’m going to use what those brilliant people taught me. My life is better since I moved to Fayetteville.

What I need to say to the citizens of Fayetteville is that if we buckle down and prepare for the oncoming storm, we will survive. There will be some damage but if we are all careful and look out for each other we can clean up good.

We’re going down a long road and the longer the road, the more of a pain it is. The school closings are not gonna be easy but as a community, if we are all working with the board instead of against them, it will be easier.

Tonight, I went to the board meeting for public comments. I was frustrated because at the end, somebody actually yelled to fire the board and don’t close the schools.

This came after I heard somebody say that we should cut teachers before closing schools. Do they not realize that it is the teachers that make the schools worth having?

As somebody said at the last meeting, bricks and mortar do not educate a child. It is the people who care enough to sit down with us and teach us what we need to know in life.

What I have heard at the public comments meetings is irritating and disappointing at the same time.

Some people are doing what’s right and supporting the board even though it will hurt.

And then others are fighting the board and saying that it’s OK to close the other schools as long as they keep THEIR school open.

They complain about property values dropping, longer bus rides and let’s not forget the lack of air-conditioning on the busses (this has been mentioned at every meeting). It’s called fans, people, and the kids are OK with it.

It doesn’t have to be air-conditioned; windows roll down. They can feel the breeze. If it’s on a dirt road, it’s OK. They are kids and it is part of the experience. You only live once. Let them get dirty.

I sit at these meetings because I want to be part of the community. Then tonight I heard a man get up and say that the people from Bennett’s Mill don’t want Fayette Middle coming to their school because if neighborhoods like Canoe Club ever do finally fill up there may not be room for their kids.

He said that this would be like killing the goose that lays the golden egg. I guess we’re not the goose, because on top of losing our school, now we’re not welcome at the other one.

I don’t get it. It’s insulting and kind of confusing. What have we done to make us not welcome? Where else would we go? It’s not just the school closing that hurts; it is the way the community is acting.

Probably the only thing that’s actually worrying me about FMS closing is not knowing what will happen to my teachers.

Even though people say that they are all going to Bennett’s Mill with us, it’s not going to happen. Those decisions will be made within the next few weeks so we all just have to wait.

The hardest part of that is that listening to and watching people who obviously are not seeing all the children equally and don’t seem to think before they speak or look before they leap.

Tonight, I am upset.

I will leave this with six little words that could change everything if only we could all say them.

“We will make it through this.”

[Samantha Frazier, a FMS seventh-grader, volunteered to write a series of opinion columns for The Citizen about the closing of her school from a student’s viewpoint.]